Stefan Stambolov

Stefan Stambolov (31 January 1854-19 July 1895) was Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 1 September 1887 to 31 May 1894, interrupting Konstantin Stoilov's terms. He was a member of the Liberal Party and the founder of the People's Liberal Party. Stambolov presided over Bulgaria as regent from 1886 to 1887 following Prince Alexander of Battenberg's abdication, and he helped to bring Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to power as King, a move he would come to regret due to Ferdinand's absolutist tendencies and his battles with Stambolov and Parliament. Stambolov resigned in 1894, only to be assassinated a year later.

Biography
Stefan Nikolov Stambolov was born in Tirnovo, Ottoman Bulgaria (present-day Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria) on 31 January 1854, and he worked as a teacher before joining the Bulgarian revolutionary cause in Romania. After the death of Vasil Levski in 1872, he assumed the leadership of the Internal Revolutionary Organization and led failed uprisings at Stara Zagora in 1875 and Turnovo in 1876. He entered the first Bulgarian Parliament in 1879 and helped to bring about the union of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia in 1885, and, in 1886, he led a counter-revolution against the pro-Russian army officers who had ousted Prince Alexander of Battenberg in a coup. A year later, Stambolov became Prime Minister and regent following Alexander's abdication, and he headed the government in an authoritarian style; he did so reluctantly, as he dreamed of returning home to Tarnovo and retiring, but ultimately decided that any leader but a strongman would lose Bulgaria's sovereignty. In 1887, he secured Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha's ascension to the throne as Prince, and Stambolov retired as regent and returned to being Prime Minister. Stambolov was a nationalist, strengthening the country's diplomacy, economy, and general political power, and he fought against Ferdinand's attempts to expand monarchial power and survived an assassination attempt by monarchists; he then had several people arrested under the suspicion that they had a role in trying to overthrow him. His prolonged levels of stress forced him to resign in 1894, and King Ferdinand happily accepted his resignation. On 15 July 1895, Stambolov was attacked by four assassins while taking a carriage to his home. He shot one of the assailants, but they stabbed him repeatedly in the head, aware of the fact that he wore an armored vest. Stambolov died of his wounds shortly after, expressing his certainty that he would be forgiven for everything but empowering Ferdinand in the first place. It is likely that Ferdinand was behind Stambolov's assassination.